


Keeping Cool

by beachtowel



Category: DCU
Genre: Gen, Swearing, physical abuse (mention), verbal abuse (mention)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 23:33:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15130151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beachtowel/pseuds/beachtowel
Summary: Learning to adult is easier said than done. Red Hood gets asked to babysit for a night.





	Keeping Cool

_ Don't turn your tracker off, don't turn your tracker off, don't-  _ and just like that, the little dot blinked a couple times before disappearing from the map. 

“Robin!” Jason reacted with fury, knowing he wasn't heard. He told Damian, hell,  _ threatened _ the kid to stay right behind him on their route and the kid turned down another street anyway. And now, he's turned off the tracker just to make Jason miserable. A left turn was coming up and Jason wanted nothing more than to tail down that little gremlin and drag him back to the manor for purposely acting out.

Instead, Jason drove forward through the red light. He took a breath. 

He wasn't Bruce, he wasn't Dick, and he sure as hell wasn't his parents. He knew Damian wasn't going to listen because no 11 year old ever does. He _wasn't,_ _wasn't,_ _wasn't_ going to react angry.

But God he sure wanted to.

He took another breath, dodging angry drivers with his motorcycle.

_ Give him till 5 to get back online _ , Jason bargained with himself.  _ He knows where we need to go. He's probably just playing.  _

_ 1 _

Jason calculated where the kid would be if he stayed on the right track. 

_ 2 _

Jason calculated where the kid could be if he decided to take alternative routes to their destination just for shits and giggles. 

_ 3 _

Jason thought about the last place the kid was tracked in case something or someone got the jump on the kid…

On  _ 4,  _ Jason made a sharp left through an alley and circled back to the street Damian was riding down, hoping to face the kid head on. 

“Fuck you!” Jason yelled at the honking cars that were inconveniently driving in the other direction. He pulled a translucent map up to project in front of his eyes within the hood, trying to figure out the probability of what street the kid might've gone down as he passed it. Another couple seconds passed and the worry entered. 

“Fuck. C’mon, Robin,” Jason let out, hoping to see the masked short stack drive out of an alleyway at any second. 

After another second of blurry lights he zoomed past, Jason started to really panic,  _ shit shit shit _ . He lost the kid. Dick is gonna kill him. 

_ “How can you lose him!” _ Dick would say, flabbergasted. 

“ _ He turned his tracker off _ ,” Jason would respond.

Then the conversation could turn a million ways. “ _ Why weren't you next to him? Why didn't you plant a second one? Why weren't you more careful? Why can’t you do anything right?” _

Bruce probably wouldn't say anything. Just get in his car and do what he thought Jason wouldn't, or couldn't, do.

“Fuck you,” he responded to both of the scenarios, shaking his head and focusing on street names. 

He went down two more streets before taking a right to look down the next freeway. Fuck these large cities and their infinite roads.

After a few more seconds, Jason's hand inched towards the red call button. But just before he broadcasted a “could use some help” signal, he recognized an exit. 

“That little…” A couple more lefts and rights, and Jason spotted Robin's bike parked outside an arcade. Jason's anxiety turned sour to seething anger, his blood pressure spiking up. 

Robin was walking out just as Jason pulled up.

“Took you long enough,” Damian commented. “I'm done though, let's go,” the kid said as he started making his way towards his bike. 

Jason wanted to yell.

“Robin, c’mere.” Jason said with heavy stress, trying hard to manage his anger, turning his bike off.

“What,” Damian responded immediately with irritation, turning his bike on. 

“ _ Robin _ ,” Jason repeated himself louder, getting off his bike.

“ _ What _ ,” Robin repeated himself, firmly staying on his. 

Jason walked halfway between them and stopped on the sidewalk ignoring the small amount of pedestrians that were slowing down. He wasn't going to make a scene, he promised himself. 

“Come here.”

“Don't tell me what to do, Hood,” Jason saw the kid prickle up with pride. 

“I need to talk to you now,” Jason lowered his voice but kept the same bass, unable to fully calm down.

“We need to go,” Damian stood his ground and revved his bike “You’re wasting our time.”

_ If this kid takes off…  _ “Robin.” was all Jason says again.

After a couple tense seconds of ignoring Jason’s calls, Damian thought twice and swung his leg off. 

“ _ What _ , Hood,” the kid stood next to his still running bike.  

Jason pushed his pride aside and met Damian where he was, noticing that more people were starting to notice their dispute. Jason hated nosy people. 

“Yes, can we help you?” Jason turned to the two older women just watching them from their parked car, clear annoyance in his voice. “What do you want?” Just like that, they all scattered.

Jason turned to the kid, making it clear it wasn’t about a performance. 

“Robin, you can’t go off route without telling me where you’re going. And you can’t turn your tracker off at all when we’re on duty together.” Jason saw the muscles in Damian’s face move as the kid rolled his eyes. “Do you understand?”

“Tch. I can do whatever I want.”

Jason took another deep breath to remain calm.

“Not when you’re with me,”  Jason kept it to the point. 

“You can’t tell me what to do, Hood.” 

Jason felt the incredible urge to yank this kid by the arm and drag him back to the manor. His mind already thought of how he’d need to deflect when the kid attacked. 

“Kid I’m not your dad, alright-”

_ “I’m not your mama, boy,” Jason remembered the words of an abusive caretaker back in his orphanage days. “I will slap the shit outta your entire goddamn face.” _

“I… I don’t have that kinda patience with you.” Jason spoke the end of that sentence slower, surprised by how easy it was to act just like the people he hated. But he wasn’t going to be like that if he just had the chance to slow down.  __

“Hate it or love it, I’m responsible for you,” Jason continued. He let his anger seep into his honesty instead. It was less violent like that. “If I can’t track you, then I can’t back you up in case something goes to shit.” He let go of filtering his swear words out, there wasn’t enough brain power. “Same goes in reverse. If I can’t track you, you can’t track me. That means I can’t depend on you if I need you, Robin. I don’t need that kinda stress, alright? We need to make sure we’re a team. You don’t wanna do that, that’s fine, but we’re gonna go home then. I can’t have you out fighting when you’re dad’s fucking MIA and Dick is out of country. Maybe they let you, but this is the first time we’re working together and I don’t wanna end up going back home without you because I lost you. Is this making sense to you?”

Robin lashed. “I’m not a child that needs protecting, Hood! Anyone or anything I run into would be taken care of, with or without you.”

Jason gave a sour expression that he was pretty sure translated onto his helmet. “Okay, but you don’t know that for sure, Robin! You above most, because of your training, know that any night can turn to shit if the right person attacks. You’re not fucking guaranteed that it’ll be an easy night. What if tonight’s the night the world explodes? You don’t fucking know! And if you get hurt, what am I supposed to tell the others where you’re at? Where I was at? Do you understand? I’m not trying to deal with all that! Either we work together or we don’t. But if we don’t we’re gonna go back home. I don’t wanna drag you back but I will, _me entiendes_? It’s your call.”

“Alright, enough,” Damian gave another eye roll as he jumped back on his bike. “Let’s go then.”

“Robin, do you understand what I said?” Jason asked again. He wasn’t going to have this conversation again. 

“The tracker’s on, Hood, so let’s go. I’m tired of this conversation.” Robin kicked his bike’s stand up so he can pull back on the road. 

Jason breathed deep again. He let the kid have the last word because it wasn’t even about that. He muted his transmission mic and swore into his helmet up and down, letting the steam seep out as he got back on his own bike.

Jason turned the mic back on. “Lead the way,” he nodded at Damian.

**Author's Note:**

> Damian went in to check his high scores real quick. 
> 
> -
> 
> Please consider leaving me feedback, whether it be kudos or comments!


End file.
